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Who would you vote into the 2010 Hall of Fame class?

Earnie Stewart 1 (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The voting for the 2010 National Soccer Hall of Fame closed on Thursday evening, and while I was able to squeeze my ballot in just under the deadline, it was far from an easy decision to make.

There were 24 names on the ballot. Twenty four stars, standouts and leaders in the American game of soccer. There were Americans and foreigners, men and women. World Cup heroes and MLS pioneers.

Who did I vote for? I'll leave that for the end. For now, it's your turn to cast your vote.

The task is simple. Select all of the nominees you think deserve to be elected into the Hall of Fame (yes, you can select one, or all 24, but keep in mind that the more names you put on a ballot the more it diminishes the impact of your vote). Under the current Hall of Fame guidelines, all nominees who appear on 66.7 percent of the ballots are inducted. Keep that in mind when you put your list together, or if you only want to vote for one nominee.

Cast your vote after the jump:

So who did I vote for? These were the names on my ballot:

Earnie Stewart
Marco Etcheverry
Preki
Peter Vermes
Cindy Parlow

Who did you vote for? Why did you pick the candidates you picked?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. A little respect for the ladies. Winners got to the HOF. That’s just how it is… For me, it’s not an either or for MacMillan and Parlow. It’s both. I put MacMillan in for the ton of caps, all those goals, the World Cup, and the 1996 Olympics.

    As for Parlow, considering that she had to retire early, it would be foolish not to put her in. Top 5 in goals scored for the US team, two Olympic golds and a World Cup. She’s in.

    And then Stewart, Preki, and Etcheverry.

    There are some good players this year that should get in… This year. But I’ve got to wonder, at this point, aren’t we going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel? Fifteen years from now… are we going to be calling half of the 2010 US World Cup team Hall of Famers?

    At some point, being in the HOF stops being special, and starts being expected.

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  2. Dooley for all the reasons listed above.

    Shannon McMillan was a big part of the women’s success, just not always in the spotlight, but did score some big goals.

    Ernie Stewart

    Preki, for a career of excellence. He was on of the finest in the indoor game, then moved over and did well in the MLS, and with the National Team. Then to add to it, he is continuing his influence on the game by coaching in the MLS.

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  3. I voted for Dooley, Etcheverry and Earnie Stewart.

    1. Dooley: made a HUGE impact by declaring for the US while he was still a topflite Bundesliga player. Starter for two US WC teams. Played in MLS several years. Now doing the youth development thing here in the US. Big influence and on multiple levels over multiple years.

    2. Etcheverry: longtime MLS player. Probably the biggest reason that an MLS team (DCU) first got on the international stage with the Inter-American Cup win. He had a transfer offer to go to PSG, DCU had the press conference ready to announce it and say “goodbye” and El Diablo instead changed his mind and decided to stay with MLS. So PSG signed Ronaldinho instead. Make a list of the best long-term MLS guys…the guys who over 6-7-8 years weren’t just good, they were GREAT and Etcheverry would be on everyone’s list. He was for a couple of years what Schelotto was for the past two.

    3. Stewart: let’s see….starter for 2 US WC teams and played prominently on a third. Big stud in qualifying for the 2002 WC team. MLS player with DCU. One of the best outside mids to ever run an MLS sideline EVER.

    I could have easily added Nowak (NT Assistant, MLS Champion as a player and coach) but held off–he didn’t play that long and only coached 2 seasons. Dom Kinnear gets my vote in a year or two if he wins another championship (so he’s a former MLS player who then becomes a dominant coach in MLS).

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  4. I was about to post “why isn’t Parlow getting more votes?” but I guess now I know why. You want to look at simple numbers, here you go:

    1995-2006 United States 158 (75)

    That would be just under averaging a goal every other match over 11 years of national team play…wow.

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  5. It’s kind of sad that people don’t care as much about women’s soccer. If they did, the US would be one of the world’s great soccer powers.

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  6. why does no one talk about the great carlos valderama here? a true legend that came here to help grow soccer in this country and was the mentor of steve ralston. the master of shielding the ball and the finding the key unlock defenses. but at least he is getting votes.

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  7. He was a two-time MLS MVP – so far the the only person to win that award twice – and finished his career second in league history in assist – he’s now third – and four years after retiring is still in the top ten in league history in goals.

    And he did all this despite being 32 when MLS started. (He was also a GREAT indoor player before that.)

    And, of course, he had the great goal to beat Brazil.

    BTW, who are the three percent – as of this post – who voted for frikkin’ Mike Burns for the Hall of Fame?

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  8. Form me, Dooley is tops, followed by Stewart.

    And Ives, if you’re going to vote for a WNT player, Shannon Mac over Parlow, easy.

    (SBI-I’m no women’s soccer expert but I remember Parlow putting together a pretty good career.)

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  9. @SBI lmao! uhh, no. Everyone as in the 5 other ppl who chose Joe Max-Moore and/or questioned why you didnt choose him before me. And as for your picks, Peter Vermes, Preki,…Cindy Parlow? Really, who cares about women’s soccer/sports! How responsible of you.

    (SBI- “Who cares about women’s soccer.” Okay Tim, thanks for playing.)

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  10. The factor no one seems to be considering is timing; as in, a player can only be eligible for voting for a certain number of years before being dropped from consideration. I didn’t factor this into my decision making, but I bet Ives did. It would be interesting to redo this voting with the list of players including the number of years remaining to them to still be on the voting lists.

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  11. Ives I think everyone wants to know why exactly you felt Joe Max-Moore wasn’t deserving of a vote? This deserves a response.

    (SBI-And by everyone, you mean you, right? When Joe-Max is in the Top Two among vote getters then I’ll feel obligated to give a response (he’s fifth right now). Until then, I really don’t see what the fuss is about. We all have our preferences. In an ideal world about eight or nine of these people would get in, but that’s not happening.)

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  12. I don’t understand this. Can someone please explain, beyond one WC, what he did for our country? He didn’t help the sport in MLS (playing one injury-filled game with Chivas doesn’t count). And he only has 30 caps for the NT, in comparison to 81 for Dooley and 101 for Earnie Stewart. He has fewer NT caps than Dominic Kinnear (whom also has multiple successful coaching and playing MLS seasons). In comparison, John O’Brien was simply a one-hit wonder.

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  13. I’m sorry but how is John O’Brien getting the same respect, if not more, than Peter Nowak who brewed the sport in this country in MLS and coaching for our NT. Peter Nowak>>>>>>>>John O’Brien.

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  14. I picked three players. Lots of these players are deserving for their contributions to getting MLS off of its feet, but ultimately i had to go with:

    1. Earnie Stewart
    2. Joe Max-Moore
    3. Thomas Dooley

    Their contributions to US soccer as a whole, both nationally and domestically made them the most qualified for me.

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  15. How could you leave out Joe Max-Moore. I just don’t understand how anybody you listed other than maybe Earnie Stewart deserves it more than he does

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  16. Dooley was huge in providing a stabilizing presence in the 90’s, which really sped up the development of the USMNT.

    Gotta throw GOB, I mean JOB, on for sentimental value. He was a huge part of one of (if not the greatest) U.S. World Cup runs. One of the few Americans to really start out at storied European team and work his way through the youth ranks to the senior side. If not for injuries he could have been held in much higher regard…and not a running joke on SBI.

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  17. IVES! the photo of Ernie Stewart is putting him on everyone’s mind before the vote. NOT FAIR! BOO HOO! NOT FAIR! HAND BALL! I voted for him, of course.

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  18. Can we take into account coaching? Because Kinnear has had a huge impact on the American game coaching Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, Stu Holden, and Ricardo Clark.

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  19. Ives, I’m a big fan of your work and respect your opinion but leaving Thomas Dooley off your ballot causes my opinion of you to drop a little.

    I’m sure that won’t cause you to lose any sleep, but it’s amazing to me that you could ignore Thomas Dooley’s accomplishments and what he did for American soccer in the 90’s.

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  20. He also had carlos valderama at tampa bay. Which means even the worst forward is going to look like rooney playing in the mls with valderama, and the mls sucked donkey nuts back then. Not that he wasn’t a good player though. He was extremely fast and a good finisher.

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  21. Etcheverry
    Preki
    Stewart
    Dooley
    Nowak
    Vermes
    Parlow
    Lassiter – a moment to make his case as one of the deadliest strikers in MLS history… he’s top of the single season scoring charts and not really that close to being caught by anyone. Scored 18 goals in parts of 5 seasons in Costa Rica before coming to MLS, and put in 37 in 60 games with Tampa, including the single-season record of 27 in ’96. Once he moved on to DC, he had another 36 goals in only 58 games, and retired as the MLS goal leader before Kreis passed him in ’04.

    Unfortunately, he was caught in grey areas when MLS was first ramping up and no one really knew enough about the long-term viability of the league and he ended playing overseas for several seasons, but was money with a ball inside 20 yards whenever he got it. Might have also been the fastest guy to ever play in MLS, too. Not a national team stud, Lassiter owned MLS for the first 5 years and was the deadliest finisher in the fledgling league.

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  22. I think Thomas Dooley is the most qualified:

    I think he should be voted in because:

    He started every game in both the ’94 and ’98 World Cups.

    He played every minute of every game in ’94

    He was the captain of the US World Cup squad.

    He received 81 Caps for his country.

    He was named the US Soccer male athlete of the year in 1993

    Thomas played professionally for 14 years in Germany

    He won the German cup with Kaiserslautern

    He won the UEFA CUP with Schalke against Inter Milan

    He played 3 seasons in the MLS

    He was on the MLS Best XI and was 2nd in Defender of the year voting in 1997

    He was on the MLS best XI in 1998

    He won the MLS Fair Play Award in 1998

    He continues to support US Soccer by establishing a Youth Academy in California

    Reply

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